The first signs of spring are starting to peak out of the ground around the elder oak where the Beiter family lives. This bright sunny day, about a week from the spring equinox, Samantha Beiter is sleeping soundly, having been up for nearly 15 hours at a difficult birthing. So, as the sun streaks into the girls' room high up in the tree, there is no one to tell them to get up.
Acera mrrfles in her sleep and pulls the pillow over her eyes as the sunlight sneaks inside.
Nalae stretches softly as the light streaks over her. She rolls over onto her belly to shield her eyes, bumping into Acera as she does so.
Acera mrrrphs and thumps Nalae with her pillow.
Nalae rrfs and yawns widely.
Acera smacks her lips slightly and oogs, "What's going on?"
Nalae rubs her eyes. "Morning," she murmurs.
Acera nodnods, "It sure is, where's ma?"
Nalae carefully stands and stretches. "Dunno. Maybe she slept in?" Not that she's ever known Samantha to do that...
Acera hrrrmfs and ews, morning predator breath. "Well, ma went to a birthin, must have taken all night or something. We'd probably best get up and take care a things."
Nalae rrgs.. "I guess.."
Acera streeeeeeetches and nods, "Like something to eat. C'mon *yawn*, let's go."
Nalae quietly scritches her muzzle. "Okay."
Acera lumbers out to the steps nailed into the tree and starts heading down, yawning a couple times on the way.
Nalae follows Acera carefully, keeping one hand on the tree trunk until she's fully awake.
Acera drops the last few feet to the ground and scampers over to the well to get some water.
Nalae pads after Acera to help her with the water..
Acera cranks up a bucket full, and takes the dipper and tries to wash that morning taste out of her mouth, then hands it to Nalae, "So, whatcha think we should do?"
Nalae shrugs uncertainly. "Dunno. You know any good games?" She's not going to be the one to suggest they do chores. ;0
Acera hrrrms as she pads into the kitchen, looking for some food, "Let's find somethin to eat first."
Nalae nods and shrugs. "Sure, okay."
Acera checks around in the kitchen, and digs up some smoked trout and hands one to Nalae, along with some cheese and sits down at the low slung kitchen table.
Nalae grins, sitting down across from Acera.
Acera tears into her food and seems to slowly be waking up as she tries to figure what to do on a day when ma is out till at least noon?
Nalae quickly downs her fish, her teeth easily stripping the meat from the slender fishbones.
Acera's attention just now shifts to a huge, cloth covered bowl at the end of the table.
Nalae blinks at Acera, then follows her gaze to the bowl.
Acera lifts up the towel to see a huge lump of risen bread dough, nearly as big as Nalae.
Acera grins, "Hey, wanta make some bread? Ma never lets me fer some reason."'
Nalae giggles. "Sure!"
Nalae pauses... "D'you know how?"
Acera nods, "I watched ma do it. Ya gotta take a big lump and you kind of beat on it for a while." And she reaches in and struggles to pull off a loaf sized lump of the dough. It's very elastic. As is sticks to her fingers she blinks, "Oh yeah! I forgot, you gotta cover it with flour so it don't stick. Nalae, can you get me some?"
Nalae nods quickly, grinning at Acera's sticky hands. She goes to the cupboard and pulls out a bag of flour.
Acera struggles to get the lump free and she chitters, "Dump some on the table Nalae."
Nalae dumps rather too much flour on the table. A fair amount spills to the floor.
Acera coughs, then sticks her hands into the flour, "Get some flour on your hands and grab a chunk. ;)"
Nalae grins. She coats her hands in flour, and tugs a measure of dough from the lump in the bowl.
Acera finally gets her hands free and starts pounding on the lump, raising small clouds of flour each time, "No wonder ma won't let me. This is fun!"
Nalae giggles at Acera, and works at pounding on her own lump of dough. "Neat!" She grins at Acera through the swiftly rising cloud of flour.
Acera folds and thumps the bread like she thinks she saw Samantha do. In short order, both mustelids are looking very white.
Nalae begins to tire after a few minutes. Her arms really weren't intended for this sort of work.. She slows her kneading, giving her aching muscles a chance to rest.
Acera finishes her first "loaf" and goes to find one of the ceramic baking dishes. She brings em over to Nalae, "We gotta grease em first. Wanna do that?"
Nalae grins at Acera gratefully. "Okay." She leaves her lump of dough amidst the flour heaped on the table, and peers at the baking dish. "What do we grease them with?"
Acera hmms, "Ma uses lard. There's a bucket in the root cellar, where it's cool."
Nalae nods uncertainly. "Can you show me where?"
Acera pads over, trailing whisps of flour with each step, then struggles to lift a wooden door set into the floor, and finally does, "It's the one by the apples."
Nalae nods a bit, and begins down into the cellar.
Acera arms are tired too, so she goes to fire up the stove first, figuring it should be warm enough when they have the bread ready.
Acera calls to Nalae as she lights the stove, "Ya find it ok?"
Nalae finally comes up from the cellar, carrying the bucket of lard. "Is.. this it?"
Acera gets the stove going, then pads over to Nalae, "Yep, sure is. Just smear it around inside the pans, I'll do some more loaves, ok?"
Nalae nods uncertainly. Hesitantly, she reaches into the bucket, then smears some of the stuff around on the inside of the basket.
Acera wrestles another lump of dough free, and does a passable job of kneading this time.
Acera grabs another lump and thumps it into the flour, raising another cloud, "When you're done Nalae, ya can put a loaf in each one. Boy, no wonder ma has strong arms, but it is fun to play with."
Nalae nods a little, spreading the lard about. "How do I know when I'm done?"
Acera frowns, "I guess when all the inside part of the pans are covered with lard?"
Nalae nods a bit. "I guess, yeah.." She keeps working at it until she's basically satisfied. Reaching over, she takes one of the lumps of dough and deposits it in the pan.
Acera oohs, "Look at this Nalae!" and she presses her hand into a lump, and it leaves a nearly perfect hand print, "Neat, huh?"
Nalae giggles!
Acera finishes several more loaves before her arms get too sore, and she helps load the pans, marking the tops with her paw prints, or Nalae's and then coats the top with a thin coating of lard, then checks the oven, "Almost ready. Ma's going be surprised."
Nalae grins and nods at Acera, peering at the oven.
The stove is an old cast iron type, with a wood burning chamber next to the oven. Acera puts in the loaves done so far, and aside from the paw prints, they're in ok shape. And, assuming the two little girls can hire a fire hose to clean up the kitchen in a big hurry, Samantha might compliment them. (Yeah, right).
Nalae grins. "How long do we leave it in there?"
Acera hrrrms, "Not too long, don't want it to burn. We'll check it a lot." and then she looks around the kitchen, "I think we better find the broom."
A light creaking sound can be heard from upstairs, signifying somebody walking on one particular step.
Nalae hmms and nods...
Acera pads over to get the broom, and misses the creaking sound as she knocks it over and clatters on the floor. She grabs it and hands the dust pan to Nalae, "Hold this while I sweep, K?"
Samantha slowly pads down the stairs, still yawning.
Nalae nods.. she crouches down and holds the dust pan for Acera.
The two little girls have gotten most of the flour off the floor. The table top is still a mess, and both girls look like they've bleached their fur.
Samantha, just as poor Nalae is lifting up a dust pan full of flour, says "What is going on here?!"
Acera hrrms and peaks into the oven, the bread is just starting to brown, she eeps and turns around, "Ma?!"
Nalae abruptly looks up, jumping and spilling most of the flour back onto the floor again.
Samantha groans, resting her head on her hand.
Acera chatters even faster than normal, "We were just helping ya make bread. Its in the oven. We were gonna clean up, honest we were ma!"
Samantha sighs. "Okay. How long has it been in there?"
Acera chitters, "About 10 or 15 minutes. I was just lookin, it's starting to brown."
Samantha sniffs at the air, and relaxes some. "All right."
Acera looks a bit pitiful, festooned in white flour, course, so is Nalae.
Samantha seems a lot calmer now, or perhaps it's just fatigue. "Well, let's get things cleaned up, then."
Acera nodnods, "Sure will. Maybe you should watch the bread ma, I'm not sure how long it takes. C'mon Nalae, lets get that flour cleaned up."
Samantha nods, padding over towards the oven, avoiding the worst of the spills.
Samantha peers into the oven, then holds her hand over it to feel the heat rising. She nods, then grabs a couple of pot holders and starts pulling the loaves out.
Acera grabs the broom and with Nalae's help, the floor slowly reappears.
Samantha chuckles as she gets a look at the pawprints in the bread.
Nalae helps gather the dust into the dustbin..
As the two girls clean, they are hampered by the fact that flour keeps settling out of their own fur as they move.
Samantha looks at the two of them. "How about the two of you go outside and jump around for a few minutes to clear the loose flour out of your fur?"
Acera nods, and coughs at the small cloud she makes, "I'll even take a quick swim ma. Maybe a wet towel'd help Nalae. C'mon Nalae." and races outside, trailing a cloud of white dust.
Samantha shakes her head, chuckling. "Well, aside from the mess, this was a nice surprise."
Nalae grins and nods, bounding after Acera.